Pair of English Boss barrels
- Thread starter ranman50
- Start date
I would check the condition of each of the barrels (bore surface, chokes, barrel wall diameter, chamber length) and if in good shape I would definitely list for sale. But probably not Canada. I'd list them is the US and/or Britain. New barrels from Boss are handily in the 5 figure range. There may be a Boss owner who would like a multi barrel set that doesn't want to drop $35,000 on two sets of new Boss barrels.
A friend and I have both bought Manufrance Ideal barrels to create multi barrel sets. Very specific measurements must be taken at the breech to ensure it can be made to fit. Any sign of the forend iron?
A friend and I have both bought Manufrance Ideal barrels to create multi barrel sets. Very specific measurements must be taken at the breech to ensure it can be made to fit. Any sign of the forend iron?
There will be a serial number stamped on the flats. First thing I would do is get in touch with Boss & Co. and see if they have any information on where the two actions might be. The barrels were hand fitted to the actions, and not interchangeable ( hence the numbers), so it's unlikely they would fit on any other gun, Boss or not.
Provided certain aspects match, most importantly that the distance across the breech end matches up with the distance across the face of the receiver, then they likely can be fitted. Not without work by a skilled doublegun smith, but it can be done. And is done somewhat regularly.
That is different then being "interchangeable" with an Boss action that's not the original action they came with. And, given they are marked 1 & 2 and are together, it's likely they were originally fitted to the same action, not two different actions. So from that standpoint they most likely were "interchangeable" on the original action. Although they probably had different forends.
When a set of new Boss barrels costs in the range of $15-20K, $200 spent on the export and $2000 spent on the fitting might be seen as very worth it by an owner of a Boss SxS. The biggest headache is fitting the forend. Not the breech.
Assuming the chokes are original, they would tell you if it's a two barrel set or a matched pair.
My guess is it's more likely to misplace or destroy one Boss action then it is to do the same to two Boss actions.
They're from a pair of guns. The actions would be marked 1 & 2 as well, usually on the top lever, so that you would get the correct pair of barrels fitted to the correct action.
And a quick way to tell would be from the serial numbers on the barrels. If they were a two-barrel set they would have the same number. If built as a pair, they would be sequentially numbered.
I did not realize these were for two guns. The serial numbers are sequentially numbered as mentioned. Not sure of date of manufacture but they are nitro proofed so I guessing around early 1900s. Thanks everyone for the great response.
